Isarescu: Romania’s highways should also cross the Carpathians from east to west

The governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), Mugur Isarescu, stated that the Romania’s highways should cross the Carpathian Mountains, not only from the north to south but also from the east to west, which means that an Iasi-Targu Mures highway is also necessary.

“We have a huge need of infrastructure. This is a matter of public investments that were cut during the recession, but many times during the growth periods also. Beyond that, even when the European funds increased, they didn’t add to the public investments but only replaced them. We’re preparing to celebrate 100 years from the Union. But, without infrastructure, our historic lands risks to have a huge gap in the future. We talked about the need to have our highways cross the Carpathian Mountains. Now i want to be more specific and say that this doesn’t only means crossing from north to south, but also from east to west. There is not only a need for a Pitesti-Sibiu highway, but also for a Iasi-Targu Mures one,” stated Isarescu during an EY Romania event.

The governor also reminded that Romania’s workforce participation rate is only 66 percent compared to the 73 percent average of the European Union. That could give the false impression that Romania has available workforce resources to extend the potential of production, he added.

“This is not the reality. On one hand, again, the lack of infrastructure won’t allow the mobilization of the available resources. For example, there are areas where the unemployment is at a high rate, like Vaslui, Botosani, Mehedinti, but also because of the lack of infrastructure, there will be no stimulus for private investments in those areas. On the other hand, there is an increasing decoupling between the available qualifications and the workforce qualifications required by the job market,” he concluded.